The Hogwarts War
by Silverfox1
Summary: Inspired by 9/11. Originally Neville was supposed to die in his attempt to rescue Trevor, but I just couldn't go through with it when I actually wrote the scene, which is probably why it didn't go over well with readers back then.


Disclaimer 1: This is fanfic. That means I do not own any of it. I just borrow it to play with for a little while and let people see the pathetic results if they really want to.

Disclaimer 2: I'm not making any money from it. It's just for fun.

Disclaimer 3: What isn't borrowed is all made up. None of this is real or most likely at all realistic. Please don't trust any of the information in here. Most likely you know more about whatever I'm writing about than I do.

Disclaimer 4: Attitudes, views and opinions expressed by the characters or in the story are not necessarily those of the author. Even when writing Science Fiction or Fantasy I do not tend to attempt to create perfect/better worlds in which everybody gets a happy end ... or whatever is best for them. Please accept that some characters will have a bad ending or be unhappy.

Disclaimer 5: I intend no insult to anyone. If I offend anyone I'm very sorry. Please understand that it was an accident as I tend to be very clumsy in these things.

A/N – My apologies for this. Years ago I woke up one morning and heard the news reporter say that the American President had said to the countries of the world: "If you're not with us, you are with the terrorists." and I thought 'What does he mean he's gonna bomb us for being a neutral country?' He probably didn't mean it that way (the sentence was picked out of context for the news report) but the thought stayed with me and every time I heard something fly over the building I worked in my stomach clenched a little with irrational fear that this plane might drop the first American bomb. I finally sat down and wrote this fic in one go. (I did only one fast spell check on it and probably missed a lot of mistakes.)  
Originally Neville was supposed to die in his attempt to rescue Trevor, but I just couldn't go through with it when I actually wrote the scene.

The Hogwarts War

Albus Dumbledore was abroad. Nobody knew exactly where he was. Some people said he was away on urgent ministry business. Others supposed that he was trying to win over other countries to help fight Voldemort and his followers without the approval of the ministry. The only thing that everybody agreed about was that he wasn't at Hogwarts nor could he be called back quickly if anything short of a death eater attack on Hogwarts itself occurred.

But that wasn't really a problem. Or at least it didn't seem to be a problem as Professor McGonagall seemed quite capable of handling anything that might come up and the school year had been rather peaceful so far. There had been a few minor disagreements between pupils or staff members that had required the attention of the temporary headmistress, but everything had been solved easily. Hogwarts was unusually peaceful and even during the Gryffindor - Slytherin Quiddich match the insults and fouls remained rather few and Professor Flitwick easily broke up the one minor fight that broke out between two first years.

It was a long game due to the bad weather that kept the seekers from spying the snitch, but finally after almost five hours Harry Potter caught sight of the tiny winged ball. He dove for it at once urging his trusty broom to top speed. Draco Malfoy, his Slytherin rival was following close behind, but Harry was in the lead and his Firebolt still was the fastest broom in the world. He stretched out his hand and felt it close around the snitch tiny wings beating furiously trying in vain to get away.

Triumphantly Harry raised his hand to show the snitch to the roaring crowd. Once again he had won a match for Gryffindor. Despite the bad weather all of Gryffindor had been watching the game. Even Nearly Headless Nick the house ghost rushed out of the stands to congratulate the team as they landed on the rain soaked ground. Several pupils jumped out of the way shivering as he attempted to glide through them.

Harry hopped off his broom smiling broadly and greeted his fans. This day couldn't get any better for Gryffindor.

As the long procession of students returned into the castle Draco Malfoy walked up to Harry flanked by Pansy Parkinson and Millicent Bulstrode.

"You might have won today, but I'll get you for this tomorrow. Potter." he sneered at Harry.

Harry had to hold his best friend back Ron Weasley from punching Draco in the face. Not that he wouldn't have liked to punch the Slytherin seeker himself, but with Pansy Parkinson and Millicent Bulstrode behind him ... Wait a minute Pansy Parkinson and Millicent Bulstrode? Where were Crabbe and Goyle, Draco's usual bullies?

Harry suddenly remembered that he hadn't even seen them in the stands during the game. Come to think of it Draco had been seen without them on several occasions during the last week. They'd been hanging out with Marcel Zabiny a Slytherin seventh year and the older brother of their dorm mate Blaise instead. Had the older Zabini been at the game? Harry didn't remember seeing him, but then again he hadn't been looking for him either. The Zabinis were rather unpleasant people even more so than most of the rest of the Slytherins and even their house mates tended to avoid them, but Harry had hardly ever had anything to do with Marcel and thus didn't necessarily register his presence in a large crowd.

So who cared if Crabbe, Goyle and Zabini had been at the game? The fact that Draco had lost his bodyguards might be interesting, but their coming or not coming to a Quiddich game didn't really confirm those rumors. Harry shrugged the thought away and continued towards the Glyffindor common room and a great victory party. He climbed up another fleet of stairs, turned another comer. Almost home.

Suddenly there were shrieks in front of them. Harry started to run his two best friends beside him. The screams came from the corridor that led to the entrance into the common room. Harry pushed through the crowd to see what had frightened his house mates so much. Then he saw it. Smoke was coming out of the corridor and now he also smelled the fire.

Where did it come from? What was on fire in their corridor? Harry and several others ran on to find out. The thick smoke was hard for the eyes to penetrate. Breathing got harder and it was terribly hot. Finally after what seemed like an eternity they reached the portrait hole.

The Fat Lady was on fire and screaming in terror. She opened up without asking for the password and the Glyffindors stared in shock at their burning common room.

"They just went in and set everything on fire!" wailed the Fat Lady. "I should have known they weren't ours, but they had the password!"

Some of the girls started beating at the flames on the portrait with their bare hands or their cloaks, but it was no use the Fat Lady kept burning and two of the cloaks caught fire as well.

The girls threw them away in panic, but luckily the others were still rational enough to step on them and smother the flames.

"Crookshanks!" Hermione yelled over the screams of the burnt girls. "He's still in there!"

Ron slung his arms around her trying to comfort her over the possible death of her beloved cat and she started crying into his robes.

Harry turned trying to get back to his friends and help Ron calm her, but with more and more pupils pressing in from behind it was impossible to get through. More and more pupils were starting to cry for pets caught inside the burning tower.

"Trevor!" screamed a terrified voice beside Harry. "Trevor!" and Neville jumped straight into the flames in a hopeless attempt to rescue his pet toad.

"No Neville! It's hopeless! Come back!" shouted Harry, but Neville had already disappeared in the dense smoke and dancing flames. "Neville!"

Minerva McGonagall had trouble getting through the mass of hysteric pupils, but finally she managed to dig her way through the crowd and arrived at the entrance to what had once been Gryffindor tower.

"Extinquo!" she yelled pointing her wand at what has left of the portrait of the Fat Lady. The flames went out immediately, but it was too late. There was nothing left of the portrait than a few pieces of blackened wood.

Minerva didn't have time to mourn however. She turned towards the entrance. "Extinquo!" The fire around the hole went out. "Extinquo! Extinquo! Extinquo!" One by one she put out the fires in the common room. Slowly hesitantly She stepped into the still blazing hot smoke filled room. A few trembling seventh years followed her to help put out the fires in the dorms.

Neville Longbottom was found crouching in the far comer of the common room clutching a big cat tightly too his chest. Both were badly burned, but alive.

"Crookshanks!" Hermione yelled overjoyed as they were floated past her towards the hospital wing on a stretcher McGonagall had conjured up. "Oh Neville, you saved Crookshanks! Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

Such exclamations of joy were rare however. Most of the pets that had been inside the tower were found dead and the crying of their owners could be heard almost in the entire school.

Harry and Ron thanked god that their owls had been safe at the owlery far away from the inferno in Gryffindor tower.

Neville's toad Trevor was found hopping around in the Charms corridor. His annoying habit of running off all the time this time had saved his life. Hermione picked him up on her way to the hospital wing to see Crookshanks. Neville would be so happy to have him back and Hermione owed him for saving her cat's life. She didn't know how she could ever thank him enough to express her gratitude, but seeing Trevor alive would let him understand at least a little of what she'd felt when she'd seen him clutching Crookshanks.

The rest of the Gryffindors went into the tower slowly careful to avoid areas that according to McGonagall looked like they might collapse and dug through the ashes to salvage whatever was left of their belongings. Once they were sure that there was nothing left to save in their former home they trudged down into the great hall where the rest of the school was gathered.

A few Slytherins jeered at the sight of the soot covered Gryffindors, but Professor Snape quickly silenced them with his angry glare.

"This is not something to be happy about. The Gryffindors have not only lost their dorms and common room, but also all their belongings. We were very lucky that nobody was inside Gryffindor tower when it caught fire. Somebody might have been killed." he told them sternly and most of them looked down embarrassed at their reaction.

"Neville almost was killed!" shouted Lavender Brown. "He went in after his toad and was badly burned."

"But he is still alive?" asked Professor Sprout horrified.

"Yes, but whoever set fire to our tower has to pay!" shouted Colin Creevey.

Shouts went up all over the hall.

"Yes! Yes! They have to pay!" "Kill them all!" "Set fire to their stuff as well!" "Expel them!"

The Griffindors were of course the loudest, but pupils from other houses as well were demanding punishment of the guilty.

"Silence!" roared McGonagall who had only just entered the hall. Slowly the noise died away.

"You will be pleased to hear that none of your fellow students were killed in this catastrophe and that most of those inured only suffered minor bums. Only Mr. Longbottom suffered really bad injuries, but Madam Pomfrey assured me that he will be completely recovered in about a week. Gryffindor tower will most likely have to be torn down and rebuilt entirely however. In the meantime two rooms in the hospital wing will have to serve as emergency dorms for the Gryffindors. I have so far been unable to reach the headmaster, but I'm sure that he will arrange for a better solution as soon as possible."

"But what about the people who set the fire?" demanded Ron angrily.

Again shouts for punishment and retaliation went up. Minerva had to shoot up sparks from her wand to regain the pupils' attention.

"Please, this was most likely an accident. Nobody would set fire to Gryffindor tower on purpose. There is nothing to indicate..."

"Yes, there is!" shouted a seventh year Gryffindor girl. "The Fat Lady said so!"

Once again Minerva had to calm down the resulting uproar. Then she turned towards the girl.

"What exactly did the Fat Lady say and how do you know about it?"

"I was one of the first who reached the portrait hole and found the Fat Lady burning. She swung open and screamed that 'they' had set fire to everything and that she shouldn't have let them in, but they had had the password."

Again people started shouting and chatting excitedly. Again Minerva silenced them.

"Who else was in that first group at the scene?" she asked sounding very calm and serious. Harry and several others got up and walked over to where the first girl was standing at the end of the table. McGonagall's outward calmness didn't bode well. Those who knew her knew that she was burning with fury inside.

"Can you confirm this?"

They all nodded. "Yes," said Harry. "She said they'd gotten inside with the password, but they weren't Gryffindors."

"Who is 'they'?" demanded McGonagall.

"We don't know. She never said anything but they."

"I suggest we ask the Fat Lady herself, Minerva." interjected Snape. "This is a very serious matter and we'd better interrogate the witness directly."

"We can't." answered McGonagall eyes gleaming with rage and sadness. "The Fat Lady was burned to a cinder. There is nothing left of her."

Even Snape stepped back in shock at those news.

"Then we have no way of finding out who did this?"

"Isn't it obvious that it was the Slytherins?" shouted Ron. "I'm telling you it was Malfoy. Who else would do something like that."

Angry shouts and accusations started to fly through the room. This time it was Snape who silenced the uproar by shooting flames from his wand. (That was especially effective on the Gryffindors of course.)

"Mr. Malfoy can't have set fire to Gryffindor tower. He was playing Quiddich in front of the whole school at the time. All of you saw him flying there on his broom the entire time." he declared and the other teachers nodded in agreement.

"So he got his goons to do it for him! Crabbe and Goyle weren't playing."

Surprising even himself Harry climbed onto the table and shouted over the renewed accusations and defences. "No, it wasn't Malfoy!"

The hall silenced immediately staring at Harry in surprise.

"After the game he threatened me with revenge for tomorrow. He'd have said today, if he'd known about this. Crabbe and Goyle however, I noticed missing from the game. Maybe they did it on their own."

"Crabbe and Goyle don't have the intelligence or finesse to plan something like this. They wouldn't have bothered with finding out the password first. They'd just have set fire to the Fat Lady and forced their way in." argued Snape.

"They might have helped with the execution, though." countered McGonagall. "Just because they didn't get the idea from Mr. Malfoy doesn't mean they weren't working for somebody else."

"The Zabinis!" suggested Harry. "They've been hanging out with the Zabinis a lot lately and I don't think I saw Marcel Zabini at the game either."

"Does anybody remember seeing Mr. Crabbe, Mr. Goyle or the older Mr. Zabini at the Quiddich game today?" McGonagall asked the entire hall.

Nobody answered. Minerva nodded her eyes blazing with anger.

"I think this proves it. Somebody in this hall would have to have seen them if they had been there at all. They are guilty."

"Wait a minute!" shouted Snape over the once again rising chatter. "This only proves that they weren't at the game. They might not have been the only ones who stayed in the castle. Considering the bad weather I dare say that they certainly weren't. We do not have prove that they are the ones who actually set fire to Gryffindor tower."

"Of course they did it!" Minerva McGonagall shouted at Snape. "Who else would have?"

"We were studying in our common room!" claimed Marcel Zabini. "Greg and Vince asked me to tutor them because they were afraid they might fail the Charms test on Monday. They were so far behind, that we decided not to go to the game and continue studying instead."

"Can anybody confirm that?" Snape asked them hopefully.

"No, everybody else in Slytherin went to the game. We remained in the common room and didn't see if any members of other houses stayed behind as well. If so they certainly wouldn't have seen us inside our common room."

"No prove either way Minerva." stated Snape calmly. "They might be telling the truth, or they might not. We'll never know."

"You're a lying little traitor, Severus." growled McGonagall. "Crabbe, Goyle and Zabini are obviously guilty and are herewith expelled as punishment."

The Gryffindors cheered and the Hufflepuffs nodded in satisfaction. Only a few Ravenclaws were seen shaking their heads in doubt.

"Minerva you do not have the right to expel pupils from my house. Only the headmaster himself can do that and he never would without clear prove." protested Snape. "Those pupils were entrusted to my care and their parents expect me to protect them."

"I can expel them if you agree. Their guilt is obvious. Hand them over, Severus."

"I agree that their story is highly suspicious, but it isn't prove enough of their guilt. I will not act against anybody unless their guilt is clearly proven. Please get me some prove, Minerva."

"Look Severus, I understand what you mean, but you know as well as I that they are guilty. Let Minerva expel them before the Gryffindors rebel and tear them to pieces." advised Professor Sprout.

"Normally I'm in favour of the 'innocent until proven guilty' rule as well, Severus." said Flitwick. "But a deed like this demands reaction. Gryffindor has a right to demand punishment and Minerva has the duty to execute it."

"And I have the duty to defend those kids until I see prove of heir guilt." insisted Snape.

The Slytherins calmly formed a protective circle around their accused house mates.

"Don't let them get away with this!" yelled Ron Weasley. "Expel all the Slytherins!"

"Yes, expel them all! They're all evil anyway!" "Expel all Slytherins!"

"Snape, I demand that you and all your little death eaters leave this school at once." Minerva shouted feeling reassured by the cheers of the crowd.

"Wait a minute. Minerva you can't expel the entire house." said Sprout. "I understand that you must take action, but you can't punish the innocent along with the guilty. Expel those three, but no others or you'll have a war on your hands."

"No Slytherin is innocent!" shouted McGonagall in blind hatred.

"Minerva, you can't fire Severus." squeaked Flitwick.

"I can't, but all of us together can do anything we want. We'll just throw them out by force." she unexpectedly threw a curse at Snape, but he managed to dive out of the way just in time and ducked behind Sprout from where he shot a small fireball back at Minerva.

"Go, get him!" McGonagall ordered Sprout.

"Minerva I want no part in your war. What you're doing is illegal and dangerous. I shall remain neutral."

"If you are not with us then you are with Zabini." declared McGonagall coldly. "There will be no neutrals in this war. She fired another curse. This time at Sprout. Flitwick looked from McGonagall who was already turning towards Snape again at Sprout who had dropped motionless to the floor to Snape who was obviously trying to get away from McGonagall.

"Minerva, you may be deputy headmaster and I would have helped you to get to those three guilty pupils even by force, but you have no right to order us to attack a fellow teacher. Expelliamus!" McGonagall's wand flew into his hand and for a moment he dared hope that he had the situation under control.

Then Hagrid grabbed him from behind. The Ravenclaws started arguing with each other. They didn't know what side to take. The Hufflepuffs just looked shocked. They didn't want to get involved.

"Throw the Slytherins out of the castle!" Ron Weasley shouted. "And everybody who doesn't help you as well!"

And all hell broke lose in the great hall as pupils started cursing and hitting and kicking at each other sometimes not even knowing friend from foe. Gryffindor was fighting Slytherin and Ravenclaw was fighting Ravenclaw. Even the Hufflepuffs finally picked sides and went after each other swinging and throwing chairs.

Albus Dumbledore arrived in the middle of the night. As he ran through the great hall on his way to the teacher's lounge he saw shattered pieces of furniture, some wands lying around abandoned and bloodstains everywhere.

He reached the teachers lounge panting, threw open the door and burst in. The teachers were each sitting at their desks looking abashed and silent. Madam Pomfrey was the only one who could look him in the eyes. So he turned to her.

"What's the situation?" he asked trying to catch his breath.

"Five pupils were killed in the fight. Either trampled to death or literally torn to pieces by their fellow students." Poppy reported shivering all over. "About a hundred were badly inured the rest only slightly. Nobody got away unharmed."

Albus glanced through the room and realized that that was obviously true for the teachers as well.

"I had to put them into three different rooms in the hospital wing. One for the Slytherins, one for those who wanted to kill them and one for those who wanted to stay neutral and were attacked by both sides in the end."

"But Poppy..."

"I locked the first two groups in, Albus. It was the only way to keep them from going at each other's throats again." She sounded so very, very tired.

"Minerva," Albus said his voice as empty as he felt himself, "write to the parents or other legal guardians. Tell them to come get their children."

"All Slytherin's parents or only the three's who are actually guilty?" she asked softly still not looking at him.

"All the pupil's parents, Minerva. We have to close the school."

"For how long?" she asked voice wavering.

"As long as it takes for the pupils to stop hating each other. Maybe forever."

"Please Albus, tell me who was right, because I just don't know anymore." Madam Pomfrey looked at him pleadingly.

Dumbledore sighed deeply. "What I want to know is: Aside from the ones who set fire to Gryffindor tower, who was wrong?"


End file.
